Juniper Green Primary: School safe for reopening after parent crashed car into gas store

A school in the south west of the city is to reopen on Monday after a parent crashed their car into a gas store in the staff car park.

The parent's car and the now removed gas store. Picture: JPIMedia

Headteacher Anthea Grierson contacted families on Saturday evening to thank them for their ‘patience and understanding’ over the last few days, informing of the school’s reopening on Monday.

On Wednesday morning, a parent crashed their car into a small building in the staff car park housing the mains gas supply to the school on Baberton Mains Wynd.

It is understood the driver failed to apply a handbrake.

Parents told the Evening News it is a well-known school rule that parents are not allowed in the car park unless there are agreed reasons.

Pupils had to leave the school – and its nursery – shortly after the incident, allowing the gas supply to be turned off and investigations carried out.

The building was without central heating and hot water, a section of the road and car park had to be dug up to allow for the investigations and the gas store building had to be demolished. A temporary structure is in place.

On Wednesday, the incident saw a joint response from the police, fire and ambulance service as well as gas distributors SGN.

Pupils missed lessons on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday morning and were sent work from teachers via email.

On Thursday, the headteacher announced she had secured permission for the car park to be locked at certain times of the day – which she said she had been pushing for for many years.

Mrs Grierson added today: “I am pleased to let you know that Scottish Gas have finished all their checks today and the gas is now on at the school.

"Boilers are being fired up and they will take 24 hours to heat up, but the school will be ready for pupils and staff on Monday.”

Parents voiced concerns about traffic around the school entrance with one saying: “There are always some who feel that the rules don’t apply to them.

"It is fortunate that this incident didn’t result in anyone being hurt, however to avoid something more serious happening in the future, hopefully this will encourage parents to adhere to the rules, which are there for everyone’s safety.”

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.